The Players Championship Betting Odds 2015: Jordan Spieth Favored at 6-1
Carrie Stroup here with The Players Championship betting odds for 2015. Tiger Woods (30-1) will participate in this event as will Masters winner Jordan Spieth (6-1 odds).
TPC Sawgrass – Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Sportsbook.ag Odds to Win Tournament
While the Players Championship is not a major, it is the next best thing on U.S. soil and boasts the largest purse of any tournament in the sport at $10 million. It’s been a hectic past month in the golf world with the Masters and the WGC Cadillac Match Play Championship in April and the strong field now heads to TPC Sawgrass for the unofficial “fifth major”. Each of the top-50 players from the Official World Golf Rankings will be teeing it up this week and will also be joined by Tiger Woods who will be searching for his third trophy at this event. Only five other players in the history of the tourney have won more than once here and Jack Nicklaus is the only golfer to have done it on three occasions.
Last year, Martin Kaymer took this event by just one stroke over Jim Furyk as he was able to hold on to his Thursday lead after a 63 on the opening day. Coming into this event, the PGA has seen a string of very strong performers getting wins as Jimmy Walker, J.B. Holmes, Jordan Spieth, Jim Furyk, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy have topped the leaderboard in the past month and a half, and typically a big name is able to win here as well. Let’s take a look at the very strong field that will be playing this week and find a few players who could take the win.
Jim Furyk: (+2100) Furyk is a threat to win each and every week and after missing the cut at the Masters, he was able to win his 17th career PGA tournament at the RBC Heritage and nearly took down world No. 1 Rory McIlroy in the semifinals at the match play over the weekend. He is just as accurate as anyone on tour, hitting 73% of fairways (4th on tour) with 69.7% of GIR (25th on tour) and has done some tremendous scrambling on the year (65.5%, 14th on tour).
Last year at this event, he nearly grabbed the win on Sunday when he shot a 66 and finished 12-under-par, just one shot behind Martin Kaymer. He hit better than 71% of fairways and GIR in that solid performance and should be riding high after going toe-to-toe with McIlroy this past weekend, so look for a great outing from the man who will turn 45-years-old just two days after the completion of this tournament.
Hideki Matsuyama: (+3000) Matsuyama will look to build on what is looking like a career-year for the Japanese-born player who has made 12-of-13 cuts in 2015 with seven top-10s. He earned a berth into the final 16 at the Match Play this past weekend, but just like Furyk, fell victim to eventual winner Rory McIlroy. He also has a second and two thirds this season thanks to ranking in the top-50 in both driving distance (295.9 yards per, 30th on tour) and driving accuracy (66.1%, 47th on tour) as he also sits 17th in scrambling (65.1%). Last year was his first visit to this event and he put up a respectful 23rd place, making him a true contender to top the field come Sunday.
Ryan Moore: (+13000) Moore has been one of the best golfers on tour this year, currently ranking 10th in the FedEx Cup standings behind a victory and six other top-25s in his 12 outings. He hasn’t been quite as consistent lately with a 57th at the Houston Open and a poor showing this past weekend in match play, but has still carded a score of 69 or better in four of his last eight stroke play rounds and was 12th at the Masters. He doesn’t excel in any one area of the game, but is in the top-50 in driving accuracy (69.6%, 17th on tour), total strokes gained (0.924, 25th on tour) and par breakers (22.8%, 25th on tour). His solid play this year has him itching for another win as he still seeks a win against a stronger field in his career.
Paul Casey: (+4000) After a rough start to the year where he failed to make the cut in two of his first four tournaments, Casey has turned up the heat with five top-10s in the next seven events; including a sixth at the Masters and a fifth this past week in match play. Casey hasn’t been to this tournament since withdrawing from it in 2012 and had missed the cut in the previous two years after a solid showing (14th) back in 2009. Despite not doing well here in more than five years, Casey is playing at the top of his game and showed last week that he can hang with anybody as he aims surprisingly at only his second career victory.
Spencer Levin: (+50000) Levin has had a ton of success at TPC Sawgrass and was in the top-12 at each of his last two visits here (2011, 2012). Last year, he really fell off, missing more cuts (11) than making them (9), but has turned it around to a degree in 2015 with 10-of-16 cuts made. In three of those visits to the weekend he made it into the top-25 and finished off his last event in New Orleans with three consecutive rounds of 69 or better, eventually tying for 28th. He is one of the more accurate drivers in the sport (70.5% fairways hit, 11th on tour) and should set himself up for some scoring at TPC Sawgrass with a good chance to finish high this week.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
